This invention relates to the field of electrical connectors and, more particularly, to an electrical connector assembly particularly suitable for a refrigerator door.
The doors of present day refrigerators are more than mere closures for the interior of the refrigerator. Such doors are increasingly being equipped with electrical and electronic components such as, for example, control panels, ice dispensers, cold water taps, and the like. Accordingly, electrical cabling (i.e., a wire harness) must be provided to the door from the main body of the refrigerator in order to allow the transmission of electrical power and control signals between the door and the main body. For aesthetic and safety purposes, such cabling should not be allowed to loosely drape along its path of travel, but instead should be closely held. It is common to route such cabling, as part of its path of travel, through a hollow hinge pin of the refrigerator door. In the past, the cabling has been routed through the hinge pin and then a connector has been installed at the distal end of the cabling for subsequent engagement with a mating connector on cabling from the main refrigerator body. However, installing the connector at the end of the cabling during the final assembly of the refrigerator is not an easy task. It would therefore be desirable to provide a connector assembly which can be installed on cabling before the cabling is connected to various components within the refrigerator door and thereafter have the cabling, with the connector attached, installed through the hollow hinge pin for subsequent connection with a mating connector on cabling from the refrigerator body.